In Studio: Akua Naru

Akua Naru grew up in New Haven, Connecticut – but her talent for rhymes has taken her far from her hometown. The Germany-based emcee joins us with her band to perform tracks from her debut album, called “The Journey Aflame.”

See Akua Naru perform at Camaradas El Barrio on Thursday, September 22nd. More information here.

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Comments [8]

mayatiam
from New Haven

First of all, I want to give a shout out to the best single set concert/show/performance I have ever seen. Akua Naru and the DigFlo Band performed last night in New Haven, CT at Cafe9. They all did their thing. I will forever be a fan of this crew.

Secondly, I want to say to Udo, JPVIDEO, Tom, and Ben, So what the beat is looped!!!!! Who cares! The message behind the beat is what is most radiant. However, listening to DigFlo play the "looped" music live is way better than the cd. Sadly, because of this, I can not listen to the cd as hype and energetically as i had in the past.

And by the way Tom, I didn't know the skin color of the artist vs. the skin color of the band made much difference....I'll be sure to ignorantly look at them in disgust for pretending it doesn't matter now a days and label myself an "Uncle"-Tom for being a Black person coonin to the dope beats!

Um... in defence of the Hip-Hop genre in general, pretty much every mainstream song since 1984 consists of someone talking or singing over looped sounds. Not exactly a valid argument.

You guys do have a point about the song, though - the vocals need more strength, and some variety would be a good idea. They've got potential, but they aren't really pushing the envelope in any true sense.

Evidently you guys have missed something: Akua Naru and her band are simply out on their own - inspiring, profound, lyrical, unique. There is nothing mainstream about this artist and her band: they are pure magic - both musically and lyrically.

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WNYC’s source to hear your favorite bands and discover new ones, with live in-studio performances, interviews, and tips on wading through New York’s ever-vibrant concert scene. Hosted by John Schaefer.